(Evironmental Reader) It’s hard to look at a Web browser these days without reading about how an online carbon calculator, smartly tied into the electrical grid, is the answer to all of society’s problems. Even GE is advertising on television about smart grids.

Add in the possibility for improving the bottom line, and it’s easy to see why companies and individuals are considering how best to incorporate data about their energy usage patterns into a Web program that will provide guidance and best practices.

Yet, some are raising the question of exactly how one’s data should be integrated into the larger picture. More precisely, how much information should you give up to the grid without giving away too much?

Jules Polonetsky serves as Co-chair and Director of the Future of Privacy Forum.

In this video he discusses Smart Grid and  some of the privacy concerns in particular that the SmartGrid could cause with LBN host Scott Drake.